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MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) -- The world's top billionaires, Bill Gates and Carlos Slim, will team up with the government of Spain in a 150-million dollar health initiative for poor people in Central America, including Belize, and Mexico, it was announced here on Monday.

Funds for the "2015 Meso-American Health Initiative" will be shared equally by the three contributors and will go over the next five years to improve maternal health, nutrition, vaccination, anti-dengue and anti-malaria campaigns in the region.

The initiative was announced here Monday by Gates, Slim, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Spain's Princess Cristina.

In additionb to Belize, the health initiative will be put to work in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama.

Gates said it was the first time his US-based Bill & Melinda Foundation has teamed up with Mexico's Carlos Slim Institute, but probably not the last.

Telecom mogul Slim, 50, topped Forbes magazine's world's richest list this year with a 53.5 billion dollar fortune. He bumped Gates, 54, to second place with 53 billion dollars.

MEXICAN President Launches Mesoamerica Health Initiative 2015



a.. $150 million USD to be used to support health projects
a.. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carlos Slim Health Institute and
Spanish Government to participate


Mexico City. Earlier this morning, Mexican President Felipe Calderon led
the launching of the Mesoamerican Health Initiative 2015 at the National
Anthropology Museum in Mexico City.

"Today, we have been brought together by solidarity, the will to cooperate,
and a joint commitment to the inhabitants of Central America and the entire
Mesoamerican region," he remarked.

At the National Museum of Anthropology and History, the Mexican President
declared that this is a shared effort by the Spanish government and the
Carlos Slim and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations, which will contribute 150
million, administered by the Inter-American Development Bank for the
benefit of over 10 million people threatened by preventable or curable
diseases.

"The project has proved that it is a powerful instrument for promoting
economic and social development and that it involves the joint work of the
countries in the region and of course, international cooperation," he
added.

Accompanied by his wife Margarita Zavala, the President said that this
initiative will contribute to fulfilling the Millennium Development
Objectives, in four ways:

First. By fighting extreme poverty and hunger which will reduce child
malnutrition and anemia. The goal is to reduce the prevalence of low
stature from 30.5% to 25.5% and the incidence of anemia in children under
five from 32% to 23%.

Second. By reducing child mortality. The goal is to achieve universal
vaccination coverage and reduce neonatal mortality by 30 per cent.

Third. By improving maternal health. The goal is to achieve the UN
commitment of reducing maternal mortality by 75% between 1990 and 2015.

Fourth. By reducing vector-borne diseases, in other words, those
transmitted by the bites of insects such as mosquitoes. This will support
programs to prevent, diagnose and treat cases of malaria and dengue. The
goal is to reduce malaria control and halve the incidence of dengue in
these countries.

"I know that by combining efforts between the public and private sector,
sharing responsibilities and utilizing the transforming power of human
solidarity, shared social responsibility and international cooperation, we
will build a better Mesoamerica, advance towards combating the poverty
suffered by our people and above all, guarantee better access to health
conditions," Calderon said.

The event was attended by Princess Cristina of Spain; Bill Gates, of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Carlos Slim-Helú, of the Carlos Slim
Foundation. Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American
Development Bank; Marco Antonio Slim-Domit, President of the Carlos Slim
Health Institute; Trinidad Jiménez-García-Herrera, Spanish Minister of
Health and Social Policy; and Mexico's Secretaries of Foreign Affairs,
Patricia Espinosa, and Health, José Ángel Córdova.

More photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

Government of Mexico

Press Release | Monday, 14 June 2010

http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/?DNA=85&Contenido=57658